London: China completed an unprecedented clean sweep of the badminton gold medals on Sunday, winning the Olympic men's doubles final against Denmark in straight games.
Cai Yun and Fu Haifeng, the silver medalists from Beijing, beat Carsten Mogensen and Mathias Boe 21-16, 21-15 for the title here at the Wembley Arena.
The men's doubles was the only title missing from the Chinese collection four years ago, when Cai and Fu lost to Indonesian pair Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan.
The Asian powerhouse leaves London with eight of the 15 badminton medals available, winning gold in all five categories of men's and women's doubles, men's and women's singles, and the mixed.
It was a step too far for the Danish duo and third seeds, who ousted No. 1 pair Jung Jae-sung and Lee Yong-dae in the semifinals.
The Chinese flew ahead in the first game, checked slightly with a five-point run by the Danish pair. Cai smashed at the net to give China a game point, Fu hit a rare ace on a flick serve to round it off.
A similar pattern ensued in game two, as the Chinese went 18-14 up.
Two wayward shots from Boe handed the Chinese six match points. They needed only two, with a backhand smash from Cai wrapping up the victory in style.
Comments
0 comment